Gaming-The Long Story You Should Know!

You may be having a bad impression when you hear the word 'gaming' and that's okay. Because most of the news, reports, and discussions you hear might be all about the negative effects of games 😶. But I'm gonna tell you some facts about why you shouldn't have a terrible feeling about it. I'm just sharing my views on this topic and I'm not criticizing anyone with this. If anyone gets offended reading this, I do apologize in advance 🙏. With that being said, let's get straight into it 🦈.

⭕ Gaming as an industry           

                 Believe it or not, the gaming industry is big. So huge in fact it's bigger than the global film and music industries combined 👏. In 2020 the total gaming revenue was 159B $. Gaming as a whole saw a significant increase during lockdown times due to COVID-19 and the popular gaming platform Steam recorded an all-time high of 22 million online concurrent users on March 22, 2020. It's not like some dead industry that is becoming weaker as the times go by, it's only getting stronger and stronger every day ✌.

⭕ Gaming as a hobby

Most of us have some sort of hobbies that we do in our leisure time. Some people do dancing 💃 while others do drawing ✍ or watching movies 📺 etc. Similarly, people like me have gaming gam as a hobby. It is something that we enjoy doing in our free time and that is important. You wanna know why? Because there are people who are not able to find anything enjoyable in their life which leads them to depression and anxiety. So isn't better to have at least one hobby such as gaming for everyone?🤷‍♂️

⭕ An escape from reality

In this modern world, everyone has their own problems and stress related to that. Some people game to take a break from all their issues. Now you might think there is no point in taking a pause from reality since it really can't solve your problems in real life and instead, we should face the problem whatever it is. Well, I personally had one experience that I like to share here. Recently, I was just chilling and playing the game, Valorant with random people 👩🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏼. We were just getting to know each other and one guy said he is diagnosed with stage 3 brain cancer. Initially, we all thought he was just trolling us. But as it turns out, it was actually true 😥. We were all silent for some time. When I asked more about him, he told that he is very scared and anxious to think about it. So he is doing things that make him forget about his disease and gaming is one of them. In this case, I think he did the right thing since there is not much he can do about it other than taking medication properly. The rest of the time, he can do things that will make him happy and if gaming is one of them, why not? I really hope he gets well soon 🙏.

⭕ Video game makes you violent?

Whenever a mass shooting occurs somewhere, the media usually relate the murderer with video games. They say it's because the violence from video games influenced him to do it😑. I only have one thing to say about this. We, gamers know it's just a virtual world that has nothing to do with the real world. We know if we kill some enemies in a game, it's not possible to do the same in real life. It's just common sense 🤦‍♂️. Also according to a Washington Post report, the gun-related murders in 100,000 in the US is about 3.2 while their video game spending per capita is about 45 whereas it's below 0.5 for the Netherlands when they spend twice that of the US suggesting that there is no link between video games and gun violence. Still, if some people are doing these terrible things, it's their mental issues and has nothing to do with video games 💁‍♂️. Honestly, I believe gaming is all about having fun 💯 and that's it. 

⭕ Gaming as a profession

As I mentioned in the beginning, gaming as an industry has come a long way now. There are so many opportunities for people who want to take gaming as a full-time profession. If they are very good at a competitive game such as CSGO, Valorant, etc, they can play for professional esports teams around the world. There are many individuals who showcased their skills to the world and made name for themselves. Take the example of Tyson “TenZ” Ngo, a 19-year-old Canadian kid. He was the first one to reach the highest rank in the competitive shooter game, Valorant from NA. Now he is playing for the team Sentinels. Or you can participate in tournaments. In 2019, a 16-year-old kid named Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won 3 million $ as prize money for winning the first Fortnite World Cup championship. But if they are into more of an entertainment play style, they can be a streamer. The possibilities are endless 👍.

⭕ Gaming to get inspired

Games can be inspiring too!😎 Yes, when you play a beautifully created game, you may be interested to know how they designed it, maybe you are attracted to know more about the coding aspects behind it or maybe it’s the animation that caught you. All these curiosities can make you search more about new things 🔍. A good example is the popular Canadian YouTuber, Linus Sebastian from Linus Tech Tips. All he did was play games in the beginning and then he became more attracted to computer hardware that runs the game. I myself became more interested in tech stuff in a similar way ⚡. 

⭕ Games- an enjoyable art

There are all kinds of games available these days. Shooter gamers, RPGs, simulator games, etc. All of these are made by a group of people who passionate about animation, graphics designing, voice acting, etc. If these people are artists, the final product they made should be art 🎨. The great thing about games is that most of the time, you are the one who is deciding the storyline. You have the option to select the outcomes of a story at multiple instances. Unlike watching a movie or reading a book where you can’t do anything to change the storyline, games give this very option to enjoy the story the way you wanted it to be. And that’s why games can provide you a better immersive experience than movies or books 💯.  

 ⭕ A helping community for everyone

It doesn't matter who you are for joining a gaming community and it doesn't matter whether you know about the latest technologies or not as long as you love gaming ❤. Because there will be always someone willing to help with your issues. I have been a member of a gaming community called MGU for about 3 years now and I'm seeing exactly the same thing over there. People who are new to gaming asking doubts and solving issues with their PC 👏. That's a good thing because nobody is teasing them for asking a silly question. Also, there are many charity streams from gamers to help out struggling people overall the world 🤗. 

⭕ Games- a tool for education and medicine

Yes! You heard it right. Games can be used for teaching students in an engaging way. Teachers at Kentucky University are already using games like Civilization 3 and Age of Empires to get students interested in history lessons and to experience them at it's best 👌. This method of learning is now used by teachers internationally. Apart from this, neurologists at UCSF Neuroscape lab in California have already applied for approval from FDA to use their custom-designed game for Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients. People with ADHD may also have trouble focusing their attention on a single task or sitting still for long periods of time. If it got approved by FDA, it will be the first-ever subscribable video game in the world 👏.

⭕ Gamer vs casual people 

It is scientifically proven that people who play video games regularly have higher attention to details, hand-eye coordination, and cognitive processing than casual people. Gamers will also have the least reaction time to something when compared with others. So we can say that games are actually making you smarter in a way ⚡. This is because our brain is designed in a way that it can perform something really good if you keep practicing it. That's why they say "Practice makes a man perfect"💯. Similarly, all the above skills are practiced repeatedly in the brain whenever you play a game. That is why gamers tend to perform better in these skills than casual individuals.

⭕ Health Concerns and addiction

It's true that if you overdo anything in your life, it will end up with a bad result and gaming is no exception ☝. Gaming for a long period of time without taking a break is definitely not suitable for your health ❌. It's always ideal to have short gaming sessions or to take multiple pauses in a long sitting ✅. In 2019, we saw WHO adding video game addiction to the list of mental disorders. But it's a bit ironic that the same WHO encouraged everyone to play video games during the coronavirus pandemic 🤷‍♂️. Personally, I never had any health issues from gaming so far. I think as long as it doesn't affect your daily routine, you are not addicted to it 💯.

                             What I want to point out with this article is that gaming is not such a bad thing. Gaming is great, but moderation is the key 🤞. You have to regulate how you game every day. It's like the old saying, "you can either cut an apple with a knife or stab someone with it". What you do with it is entirely up to you. We don't say the knife was the reason why he got a wound, do we? No! It's the person who stabbed who is responsible for the wound. Similarly, if someone did something wrong, you can't just blame everything on gaming just because he used to game. It's the individual who is responsible for what he did ☝. So please don't be alarmed when you hear the word 'gaming' next time. It would great if you could add your conclusions about the topic in the comments. Have a wonderful day 🤝.

GGs 🤗